Jesus the Apocalypticist among Apocalypticists

AI Overview:

"The apocalyptic era of Judaism, particularly from the Hellenistic period (323-31 BCE) onwards, is characterized by literature and beliefs centered around the imminent end of the world and the belief in a divinely-orchestrated intervention to bring about a new age. This worldview is marked by dualistic thinking, emphasis on heavenly beings, and a focus on the future and the end of times."

I always knew Jesus was an apocalypticist. I never realized that Jesus was an apocalypticist amongst apocalypticists. Say that ten times. 

This is a dang difficult word to spell and spell check thinks it's not a word but the online Oxford dictionary does. 

It wasn't until recent forays into Bart Ehrman's work through his books, podcasts, and blog have I begun to understand more about the historical Jesus and the Jewish apocalyptic movement of the era. 

Not only is Bart Ehrman a great scholar, he has an air of humility, and an endearing way of laughing at his own jokes which I can shamelessly relate to. He's committed to making scholarly research accessible to lay people and I'm mucho appreciato for his efforts in that regard. 

I'm not a Biblical scholar, but I did take a lot of Bible classes in the Christian University that I attended and spent a lot of time reading the Bible between ages 13 and 35 and hearing countless sermons and participating in studies, endlessly analyzing a fascinating ancient text compilation that I now realize I've barely scratched the surface of due to my lack of understanding of the original languages, actual authors, and context. (I was taught the Holy Spirit miraculously teaches you about God through this text yet we have like hundreds of denominations in our land who all think they have the patent on the right interpretation)

I never learned many many many things about the historical context of Jesus and the New Testament. Or maybe I wasn't ready to learn them and for what that learning would bring me to understand and to how that understanding would effect my beliefs and identity. But I digress. 

It is only recently that I have gained an understanding of how apocalyptic beliefs helped Jews reconcile their experience with the predominate underpinning theology of their religion. An over simplistic summary of that belief system would be: obey God and keep his law and commandments and you will prosper and be rescued from your enemies. This was an earthly consequence. If you've ever read what Christians call "the old testament" you will notice that there are rare references to the afterlife and if it is referenced, it is couched in symbolism and fairly vague. The focus is on this life and the tribe and kingdom of Israel as an earthly kingdom. When peoples of the nation of Israel suffered calamites, exile, and domination despite obeying God and trying to follow his commands, the theology began to waiver. It didn't seem to be going as promised. Prosperity and safety were not happening. People were trying to obey and honor God's law even though they were being killed and punished for it. Earthly rescue wasn't happening. 

Instead of abandoning identity and faith - beliefs morphed. Instead of framing it as "God letting his people down, ignoring them, or not existing" people began to teach that the "good times" actually were in the next life. This helpful reframing allowed people to retain hope in trying times by focusing on how God would make all things right in the next life.

And the next life, was "coming soon, very soon." In fact, I now believe when Jesus tells his followers - "Surely this generation will not pass away before...." He meant it literally. Jesus was convinced that the end of the world was going to happen any day. It wasn't a metaphor or a euphemism (even though fundamentalists have tried all kinds of things to explain what Jesus meant by that.) Jesus believed that the world as we know it would end imminently ushering in a reign where God would be king and justice would be administered. 

This doesn't seem earth shattering to anyone familiar with the gospels, Acts, or the epistles. They are all heavily saturated with apocalyptic themes and a tone of urgency. I haven't even mentioned the deeply disturbing, bitterly angry book of Revelations. 

So what? You might well ask. What does this have to do with anything? Jesus the apocalyptic prophet amongst prophets. Although Jesus was no doubt an original thinker, teacher, and healer, he was part of a movement that met the need of his people in their time. I unpack this below. The emphasis is: for his people, in their time, and particularly in their context of undergoing dominion from a conquering nation. The application for people in 1980s and 90s and beyond United States is dubious, other than offering the comforting thought that even though this life is fraught with hardship the next one won't be. Or in giving people an excuse to try less hard to make this life worth living as they meditate on the next and let me not forget to mention that I believe apocalyptic interpretations influence US citizens to take sides in an overseas conflict that likely has nothing to do with them and should be none of their business. 

I can't speak for other people but I can say that a lack of understanding about this has had a fairly deep impact on my life. Trying to "follow" Jesus and apply certain teachings to my life 2000+ years after his mandate to "stand watch" has had some major implications on how I approached life (particularly in early adulthood) and not only the choices but the constantly wrestling with how to integrate these teachings. This sounds like I'm slightly resentful of Jesus which is totally unfair. Jesus the Apocalypticist. (ok I'm addicted to this phrase) 

"Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming" Matthew 24:42. (I'm not even going to speak in this post to the fact that knowing what Jesus said based on the gospels (written decades after his life) is extremely difficult and at best speculative.)

 I'm sure Jesus would not have wanted me to try to live this way thousands of years after the fact that he has since realized along with everyone else (well not everyone) that the end may or may not be imminent. The birds and the flowers may not be worried about what they'll wear or what they'll eat but I have to say for me to spend no time at all thinking about these matters might be considered neglectful. I know pastor it's about worry. 

I think it's fair to say; that we just don't know how imminent the end is. As much as I loved the song as a child "When the roll is called up yonder," I'm less and less sure of what exactly that means. I say certain teachings above because there are certainly some principles purportedly taught by the historical Jesus which I do wish to integrate into my modern day life where I am proud to finally have a 401k (I can't entirely blame Jesus for my delay in starting one but my apocalyptic beliefs combined with a bohemian bent towards hippy abandon probably didn't help.) What do I want to integrate from Jesus? That's another topic for another day. I know what you're thinking. Water into wine. Definitely.

I suspect that I'm not alone in feeling foolish at how earnestly I attempted to integrate apocalyptic beliefs with modern exigencies. Actually I'm quite "het up" about this. If I was to blatantly disregard my self respect and make a checklist of ways that apocalypticism overshadowed my (our) life and here's what it would say;

• heaven and hell (that's all I'm going to say about that right now)
• feeling deeply conflicted about the following: having possessions, making a retirement plan, spending time working (or doing anything) instead of evangelizing, practicing family planning, doing anything recreational, taking time to evaluate what kind of life/career/home/ I/we wanted.  

It felt to me, that focusing too much on any earthly pursuit was a betrayal of the gospel ideal. I realize there are many religious people who manage to enjoy their religion and their life and don't sweat too much about these ideological matters. I'm rather jealous. 

The list above isn't comprehensive but it touches on some key life elements. I think what's most traumatic (and I don't use that word lightly) is the time spent wrestling with how to integrate these ideals and the uneasiness in which we didn't feel we were doing very well at obeying the teacher we were supposedly dedicated to. We also felt that we were falling short at establishing ourselves successfully in our times. (When I say "we" I mean my husband and me and we have talked about this at length.) I hope this makes sense but one more clarifying sentence of the highest order. This landed us in a weird tension where we felt we were half-assing the Jesus way but also not really being very successful humans in 21st century suburban US. ( I know you're thinking this hardly warrants the ward trauma). Ok, low level trauma. The low level kind that has a cumulative effect that makes you feel like you're moving but always with an extra suitcase in each hand that you're trying to figure out what to do with constantly. 

I'm ready to conclude this ramble. Where does it leave me? It leaves me at midlife at the cusp of a new life. A life where I have freedom to think and plan for the future. An existence where I can ponder what makes sense in my time and place and integrate this with the values that I choose to embrace based on many influences. 

I can give my money away or keep it all. This life can matter to me. I can do things that I enjoy even if they seem to have no bearing on a future afterlife existence. If I do a good deed it's because it feels good or because I want to live a meaningful life, not because I hope it gives me a future "crown" or pleases a god from another time and culture. 

Perhaps most epically, I can cease trying so hard to have an explanation for why terrible things happen. I don't have to reconcile views of God from an ancient text with mysterious happenings in our complex world. I can read it like I do every human body of literature, with curiosity and wonder and connection that comes from being fellow humans on a quest for the best life we can muster.

I feel a newfound tranquility and a deep-seated sense of empowerment to choose to live my human life in a decent and satisfying way; no more; no less. This posture doesn't prevent me from being open to revelation. May prophesy, healing, and all things miraculous have their way with me today, in my time. 

https://www.bartehrman.com/

See below quote from Ehrman's blog.

The word comes from the Greek term “apocalypsis,” which means a “revealing” or an “unveiling.”  Jewish apocalypticism was widespread in Jesus’ day: it was a view held by the Pharisees, the Essenes (including the authors and users of the Dead Sea Scrolls), authors of books such as 1 Enoch, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch, various “prophets” we know about (named and unnamed), John the Baptist, and many, many others.  These Jews believed the world was controlled for now by forces of evil, but God was soon to re-assert his authority by bringing in a day of judgment in which all that was evil would be destroyed.

see here for the rest of article https://ehrmanblog.org/how-jesus-apocalyptic-teachings-were-changed-even-in-the-nt/